Rubber Ducks in the Tsunami
by deactivated lmao
Summary: Everyone has reasons for coming to Tharsis. Exploration? Pretty normal. Fame? Same goes for this one. Observing your fellow explorers to write a more engaging romance novella? Or maybe you just want to take advantage of the explorer boom to find your new lover? It's not quite in the status of "normal", but whatever gets these five explorers going...
1. Chapter 1

The sound of heels slowly clicked across the intricately tiled floors, the figures of a young girl and two guards in heavy armor shown through the pillars and arches. The two guards walked on both sides of her, their heads occasionally turning and exchanging fearful glances to each other.

After all, their only instructions were to not speak with her under any circumstances. At all. No reason to accompany the order. No reason as to why they had to accompany the child through their own home. No reason why this was their first time even hearing of another child in the house. Perhaps she was mentally ill, and had to be hidden in order to uphold their renowned family's status.

At last, they reached a larger room where moonlight filtered through the windows and on to a marbled desk. The woman sitting behind the desk unclasped her hands and straightened her back, then motioned to the guards to go. They happily obliged.

The two females stared at each other for a while. The young girl's passive eyes bore into the woman's calculating ones, as if they were sizing each other up for the first time. It would always be the first time for the girl; she never knew what this woman would do. She kept her gaze.

The woman was the first to break the silence. "You've grown into such a lovely woman, haven't you?" Her tactical smile swept into something more maternal, with traces of feral possessiveness.

The girl didn't say anything.

"You're beautiful, and so talented," She continued, the words flowing from her lips like water over pebbles, "You'll do well."

She tried to feel nothing, but there was this unsettlement at the pit of her stomach that gnawed at her like a growl of a beast from beyond the mist. Her feet shifted a bit.

"I want you to go to Tharsis," The woman beckoned to the map behind her, the pins marking the cities glinting at her mockingly, "You are an explorer who wishes to find the tree of Yggdrasil. You however, know what you are there for—do not forget that."

At first, the girl did not say anything. She had lived in this household for so long. She couldn't possibly distance herself away from it. This woman was the only source of communication she had too—how was she supposed to go outside and talk with strange people?

"Do you understand?" Impatient nails drummed the surface of the table.

Although the girl and the woman were not related by blood, the girl considered her to be her mother. And mothers always knew what was best for their daughter.

"Yes." She murmured. She didn't have a choice in the matter. Her mother knew best.

The woman raised her stick-like arms, a strange light beginning to shine from the tips of her fingers.

Yes… her mother knew best.

That was the last thought that went through her head as the room began to sway.

Her mother knew best.


	2. Questionable Antics

When one thinks of a city populated by explorers, they are reminded of glorious adventurers engraving their names into the stone statue that stands proudly in the centre of town. They visualize renowned soldiers carrying into town with knapsacks filled to the brim with gold and other spoils. They hear the sound of iron clashing against horns in an epic to-the-death battle.

And yet, there she was. A girl taking advantage of the explorer boom. To find love.

While most who travelled to the city immediately ran into the Explorers Guild to register their name, Morgan strode into the pub with a straight back and her head held up high. Sure, her expressionless face had the connotations of a serial killer, and perhaps her already choppy hair had been too closely cut. But she shoved all those thoughts away. Tonight….

Tonight, she had a good feeling.

Morgan swung herself into the seat next to a man who wore a strikingly white doctor's coat. She then began to concoct herself a sentence that she thought for sure would entice the medic into speaking with her.

"Want a drink? I'll shout you one, if you'd like."

She batted her eyelashes and smiled convincingly, her torso jutting towards him and her head perched on her hand. He was indeed quite handsome, in a rugged sort of way. Hell, it had only been a few seconds of their meeting and Morgan was already quite enamoured with his 5 o'clock shadow and droopy eyelids and glorious shaggy hair-

Then she noticed the already full jug of beer sitting on front of the medic.

Oh.

The two sat in silence as the medic drank his beer and left the premises. Morgan looked down, her hands gripping her dress in anger as her face burned with shame. How? How did she not notice the large jug of beer right in front of him?

But Morgan was not to be deterred! No, she would bounce right back! She stood up and began to scan the area for more potential males. There were plenty of fish in the sea, even if that one fish she let go was a really good fish and she would probably not find another in a long while—

She zipped across to the other side as another man clad in heavy armor had just sat down. "Want a drink on the house?"

The fortress seemed interested. "Sure, why not?"

Morgan grinned mischievously, like how she had seen numerous women do with their boyfriends. Now, what would they order? Crap, she'd hadn't put much thought into this part…

A certain name of a drink popped into her mind. With two fingers raised, she said, "Two apple fruit juices, please."

The fortress shot Morgan a concerned side glance. Perhaps accepting a free drink from this redheaded girl wasn't going to be as exotic as he'd thought. He stood up and left the building, not even bothering to leave an excuse or a goodbye.

Morgan wasn't going to drink liquor of any sort tonight, but she was starting to think against that decision. She sighed.

"Could I get two of the strongest stuff you got in this bar?"

* * *

After downing a large amount of liquor, Morgan slumped on to the table. She felt horrible. After all, not everyone gets rip-roaring drunk on their first drink. What time was it? It had to be at least noon now. At least, that was how long it had felt after numerous failed flirting events.

"Miss, its 3am," said the bartender, "you've been here for quite some time. You need an escort or something?"

Well, she got the "quite some time" bit right. That was close enough. Morgan rolled on to her side and moaned as something stirred in her stomach. She was going to be sick, and she didn't even have the strength to pick herself up and go to a decent spot. Oh man, if the world kept spinning like this, she was going to be sick all over this wooden bench.

"Hello? Could I get a medic over here? This girl doesn't look too well." The bartender called out to anyone in general, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Whadda'ya mean," Morgan pointed an accusing finger at the bartender, "of course I look good, it'sh not MY fault twenty men refushed to date me. I even tried my-"

"I'm here! You needed my assistance, correct?"

Morgan looked up in anger, her hand balled up into a fist. Who the hell had just interrupted her? Whoever it was, she was a ready for a fight. She was ready to pound this idiot into the ground and-

In front of her was the cutest boy she had ever met. His eyes were round and hazel, filled with the innocence of a new-born puppy. When he smiled, it was like as if he was the god who created the rainbows after the rain, as if he were the force behind nature that formed the beautiful frost patterns on a cold winter's day. To think she wanted to beat this gorgeous man up! Morgan adjusted her choppy auburn hair, smoothed out her dress and gave the best grin her drunk self could offer.

And then she vomited.

Before promptly falling to the floor.

The bartender sighed once again. "Seriously, I think she scared away all my good customers. The moment she steps foot outside, she's banned from coming back in." He then proceeded to scribble her name down on a long list of people, cursing to himself while doing so.

"Alright," the medic helped Morgan back up and slung her arm over his shoulder before turning back towards the bartender, "where is the inn, may I ask?"

The man behind the bar blinked, then widened his eyes in a moment of realization. "Oh, right! I haven't seen you around before either. Saehrimnir Inn should be just down that path. Quite cottage-like in appearance. Can't miss it." He pointed down the street, then resumed to polishing his beer jugs.

"Okay thanks!" The medic then half-dragged half-walked Morgan off, blissfully unaware of the (mis)adventure that would soon follow.


	3. A Clustering of Warriors

Morgan awoke to the gentle smell of pancakes and bacon, the light tweets of the morning birds and the most painful fucking headache she had ever experienced. She let out a tired groan and opened her eyes.

Had she not gone and flirted (unsuccessfully) with almost every male in the town of Tharsis last night, this would have been the single most stupidest thing she had ever done. The sunlight streaming in through the windows were like daggers thrown from a Nightseeker, and her mouth—

Morgan shot up and frantically patted the nightstand next to her, hoping that someone would have placed a cup of god's holy spring next to her bed. A cold glassy surface greeted her fingertips, and she greedily snatched the glass to gulp down all of the water, enjoying its delicious sweetness and icy texture.

"Not going to say thank you?"

Morgan looked upwards to see an annoyed medic with hair the colour of lavenders plucked from fields of wildflowers, his gaze like a- wait, hadn't she already gone through this?

"O-oh yeah," she sheepishly replied, "thanks."

The medic gave a stormy look of… contempt? "The Innkeeper wouldn't let me go so quickly. You know how much I wanted to leave your drunk ass in the inn? Hell, in the bar even." He rubbed his forehead and growled, "All of this niceness for nothing…"

A nonplussed Morgan stared at the new side of the medic. She hazily remembered a nicer male from yesterday that had the same face as this royal cunt—so what was happening? The dull drumming in her head silently suggested that this wasn't the time to argue back, even though she really wanted to. But still… a little thought provoking question couldn't hurt, right?

"You're angry and claim not to care about me, but deliver me a glass of water anyway?" Morgan placed a hand on her cheek. "Looks like you really do care."

"Actually, I just wanted to look good." The medic replied without hesitation. "If you genuinely thought that someone would help a flirtatious drunk like you without having an ulterior motive… well…" He started to walk towards the door.

Oh.

Wait. ULTERIOR MOTIVE? The words embedded themselves into Morgan's mind, running laps around her head, flying in circles and doing loops in the skies.

Ulterior motive.

Ulterior motive.

Ul. Te. Rior. Motive.

And she was drunk last night too.

"YOU HAD SEX WITH ME?"

The medic whipped around angrily, practically fuming.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, will you? My standards are WAY higher than that." And then he slammed the door.

* * *

Morgan sat down at the Inn's dinner table as a lady in an apron served pancakes and bacon with a cup of cold milk. She graciously said her thanks and dug in, savouring the delicious crunch of bacon and the soft texture of the pancakes. But even food was not enough to distract her from the bitter tang in her mouth.

" _My standards are WAY higher than that."_

Well, at least she didn't have to worry about anything else. Still…

She placed her fork and knife on the plate and left the inn, leaving behind a half-eaten pancake and full glass of milk.

 _Where to now?_ Morgan wondered as she watched the clouds drift past the sun. Trying to flirt with more men was a pointless task; she had already repulsed nearly all the men in Tharsis. Come to think of it, why had she wanted a male in her life? What was the strange driving force behind this strong desire in the first place?

"Hey, Morgan!"

Morgan continued to find shapes in the clouds. The irony behind it all—she wouldn't be wishing for home if she had managed to successful rope a male into marrying her.

"Morgan? Hello?"

If only a miracle could occur. If only she could find what she was looking for in the first place. If only-

"You ARE Morgan, right?" A male lightly tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump a bit. She then let out a low growl.

"If you're here to poke fun—poke fun at me from last night…"

"Huh?" The male blinked and stepped back a bit, revealing his Landsknecht garb and gentle wouldn't-hurt-a-fly appearance. "I'm- I'm actually here from last night for your skill in runes."

Morgan raised an eyebrow and folded her arms, silently prompting him to expand on this. His face had been blurred into the many faces of the other males she had flirted with, along with the flirting techniques she had used. Had she seriously tried to use a party trick to woo someone? With _runes_?

"Remember? You dropped sculpted ice cubes into my drink at the bar. It was pretty cool, you know?"

And he was actually impressed with it. Huh. Morgan sucked in a breath with her teeth clenched.

"Haha, so funny." Morgan deadpanned. Clearly he was poking fun at her. "Please go before impale you with an ice sculpture—you like the design of lance?"

The silence in the air was heavy as those last words left her lips. She had won—no longer would this man bother her with the stories of last night, no longer would she have to talk to this-

She felt the hands of the Landsknecht as they held her shoulders with a firm grip. Oh crap. A cold sweat broke out on her back as she spluttered out incomprehensible words.

"You can do that!?" He began to shake Morgan back and forth, his eyes wide with excitement. "You-you can do that? That's so cool! Please join my guild!"

…fuck.

* * *

The two explorers stood together awkwardly as they waiting in line for the rest of the explorers to register. Well, Morgan felt awkward. She wasn't sure about the Landsknecht next to her, who seemed to know everyone in the building at the moment.

The halls of the Explorers Guild were less dark than Morgan had anticipated. Less intimidating. Hell, the windows above her had boxes of flowers in front of them. When she glanced to the side, she caught a glimpse of a tall tower capped in light green and the splash of pinks and purples from nearby gardens. The city of Tharsis was quite beautiful—and yet she had only seen it as a place to pick up members of the opposite gender. She found herself staring outside for a longer time than she had intended. Anything to distract her from him.

"Oh yeah, Morgan!" The Landsknecht slapped the distracted Runemaster on the back, knocked her out of her thoughts. "This is the other member of our guild. Morgan, meet Nikkos. Nikkos, meet Morgan." He beckoned to a figure opposite her.

Puppy eyes and hair that was the colour of the fields of lavender.

Oh.

"You?" Morgan blinked and pointed at the medic. Then blinked again.

His eyes were just as innocent as the day he had taken her to the Inn after she had passed out. None of his hard anger from the morning, no storm clouds hanging over his head. It was like they were two completely different people.

"You two know each other?" The landsknecht asked. Nikkos nodded in his direction, then turned to face Morgan.

"I'm so glad you're up now!" Nikkos smiled a smile that only skimmed the edges of his eyes. "I'm excited to join a guild, aren't-"

Nikkos wasn't allowed to finish that sentence, because Morgan had pulled him away from the main hall, away from all the other explorers. She was going to get to the bottom of this total personality change, whether she liked the answer or not.

"What's up with you?" growled Morgan, her finger jabbing into Nikkos' chest.

"What's up with _you_?" retorted Nikkos as he dismissively swatted away her finger. "Who the hell do you think you are? You don't have a chance with Erick! At all!"

"What—what does this even have to do with your total change in attitude in public?" Morgan assumed that "Erick" was the overly excitable landsknecht.

"It's not _just_ in public!" Nikkos bristled a bit, and then lowered his voice. "It's only Erick."

Morgan let her arm fall to her side as she felt her body and soul get crushed under the heavy weight called reality.

" _It's only Erick."_

Wow.

"Come on you guys!" Erick called to the duo as he waved sheets of paper around in the air, unsure of their exact location. "You gotta sign your names now!"

"We'll be over there in a second!" Nikkos answered back. Then he grabbed a fistful of Morgan's shirt, ignoring the fact that he was shorter than her. "You better not say a damn thing about this."

Morgan nodded half-heartedly and let herself be shoved back towards the wall.

" _It's only Erick."_

Gods, what a literal two faced asshole! And yet, both faces... they were both so perfect. It was wrong to feel this way, but she couldn't help it, couldn't stop her stupid emotions from acting the way they acted.

"This is going to take a while to get over." Morgan grumbled as she dragged herself towards Erick and the demon in angel's clothing.

* * *

Now that they had registered each other as explorers, the three huddled in the corner, trying to decide on a guild name.

"Name suggestions, anyone?" Erick asked while he skilfully twirled the pen in his fingers. "I'm thinking something cool, but artsy."

"How about, "Hazel Haven"?" Nikkos suggested, his eyes rather obviously fixated on the landsknecht's plain brown hair. Actually, now that Morgan knew what Nikkos was trying to do, it became painfully obvious when he was doing it. She rolled her eyes at Nikkos, who in turn shot her a death glare.

To Nikko's dismay, Erick shook his head. "It's really good, but we can only have eight characters in a guild name."

"Why's that?" Morgan asked.

"Because it's hard to remember more than eight characters?" Erick shrugged. "I'm not really sure myself."

"Or maybe because it's to make sure guild names can fit on the guild card." Nikkos piped in, again with that sugar-sweet tone. Erick nodded, clearly impressed. Had he just set him up just to impress him?

All of a sudden, a force with the power of three horses and approximately one gorilla rammed into the three of them, causing all of them to topple over and fall into a heap on the floor. Naturally, Morgan was unable to control her temper. Unlike Mr Two-faced here, who should be angry. She stood up.

"Oh—what the hell is happening _now_?" Her eyes glanced over to the object who had rammed itself into them, excepting a brick of some sort. Instead, she saw a girl clad in heavy armor with a large shield. Her blonde curls were tied into two childish pigtails, which heavily contrasted with her profession: a fortress.

The girl was quick to stand, her facial features hidden under her downward gaze. "Quick—hide me."

Erick was quicker to respond. He got up from his feet and hid the girl behind her, no questions asked. Such a heroic man. It was obvious why Nikkos liked him so much.

"Seen an asshole here?" A landsknecht with black hair strode up to them, each step a loud thump on the ground. Another girl was closely behind her, however her timid appearance did not seem as sure as her friend's. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding.

But the landsknecht seemed so sure that they were hiding something. Morgan bristled, readying herself like how tigers readied themselves to pounce, her hands growing hotter by the second as she readied her magic to open fire. Erick saw this and shook his head, silently communicating how bad of an idea it was to engage them.

The girl in the back tried to convince her friend, her sandstone eyes tired. "Come on, Amelia," she urged as she pulled on the hem of the landsknecht's shirt, "let it go."

"Can't." The landsknecht girl placed a hand on her hip. "She can't just insult me and expect me to not fight back. I'm gonna have to teach her a lesson, yeah?" Her eyes turned feral as her hands reached for the sword behind her back, her fingers twitching at the thought of a fight. Morgan felt herself shudder. If she was so eager to fight, she was probably more skilled in combat than her. Hell, better than the group even. She hid her burning hands behind her back, praying that the girl wouldn't piss her off too much.

Luckily her medic friend playfully shoved her away, nervously laughing as she did so. "Come on, we're just threatening random people now," her head turned, mouthing an apology to their group, "let's go get some snacks from the shops or something—I bet your brother's getting bored with all that waiting!"

Erick and Morgan watched as the two girls walked away, one more reluctant than the other. They both then heaved a sigh of relief, unware of how tense they were until now. Erick turned to the girl he was hiding behind him, signalling that it was all clear.

"Thanks for the help." The girl then paused and glanced upwards to meet the gaze of Erick. "My name's Pompela."

"Well," Erick knelt down and smiled warmly. "it's great to meet you Pompela, but I feel as if you should go and say sorry to those girls from before."

Pompela ignored this, waltzed over to Morgan and gripped both of her hands.

"I saw you in the bar the other day." She spoke quickly, her eyes practically sparkling with child-like curiosity.

Morgan blinked her tired eyes as the word "bar" hit her for the third time today. Why couldn't they just let her go? Let bygones be bygones, instead of seeing them as things to bring up every time someone saw her—why the hell had she gone and flirted with half the men in Tharsis? Why?! Her eyes darted towards Erick, a silent plea for help. But of course, he was unable to read the atmosphere. And Nikkos was no use—he was on the floor from the previous attack.

She took a deep breath. Exhaled. Inhaled again. Exhaled. Ok. This was ok.

But before she could began to deliver her sharp tongue lashings, Pompela started to talk again. "I thought that was super confident of you. I kinda want to learn from you, actually."

Oh. Morgan felt a weight roll off her shoulders. "Thank you then, I guess."

The two awkwardly stared at each other in silent appreciation for a bit.

…one second.

…two seconds.

…three second-

"Can I join your guild?" Pompela hurriedly cut in. Erick nodded enthusiastically, but Morgan seemed sceptical.

"Don't you need your parent's permission? You know, like permission slips and stuff." She eyed Pompela up and down, noting her short stature and childish pigtails. Though, if she had already made it all the way to the Explorer's Guild, she would have probably gotten her mental parental permission slip signed. And another thing: why was Erick so...open to new members joining his guild out of the blue-

For the second time that day, she was beat down with the force of three horses and one gorilla. Her cheek hit the cold hard floor, then her skull—

Then she was out cold again.

* * *

wow please never do that to me ever again  
im dead from the shock of finding out what happened to my doc lol


	4. Kick Yourself (Mentally)

"Wakey wakey," Nikkos sighed as he poured a bucket of cold water on to Morgan, snapping her awake with a yelp. "You really have to stop doing this kind of shit, you know?"

Morgan groaned and rubbed at her face, the water dripping off her chin and on to her already soaking heavy coat. Seriously, was this guy always _this_ much of an asshole? It was the second faint of the day too.

Nikkos continued. "I had to stay behind to look after your useless ass because Erick told me to. So. You're welcome." He then turned his head away, his voice lowering to a whisper. "Seriously, just because I'm a medic…"

Morgan stood up and began taking in her surroundings. _A Tharsis alleyway._ She noted. _I wonder how far we are from the Explorer's Guild. Speaking of the Explorer's Guild…_

"Have we decided on a guild name yet?" Morgan asked while wringing out her coat.

Nikkos briskly turned to her. "Yeah. We're Atrien now."

"But that's just Etrian with the vowels swapped…"

He sent a stormy look her way. "You have no idea how long it took that Pompela girl to name our guild. We had to force her not to make any more names."

Morgan went on to wring out her choppy red hair. "So where are the others? You're acting like an asshole again, so I assume _he_ isn't here?"

He, as in Mr "Oh-so-perfect-that-I-have-to-totally-change-my-personality-when-I'm-around-him". She let out an audible sigh, knowing that nothing would change his mind. She'd have to yet again find someone else to fall in love with.

Another stormy look came thundering towards Morgan. "I don't like the tone of voice you used when you said, "he". You got something against him, huh? Huh?"

"W-well, uh…"

Morgan found herself backed up against the wall again, her hands held up in protest as she racked her head for something appropriate to say. On one hand, she could explain that she meant no harm by the statement and had in fact said it as a playful poke at his crush. On the other, she could rebut his straw man argument by outright stating how ridiculous his love for Erick was. One was clearly better than the other option in terms of safety.

And yet…

Why did she the pick the latter?

"I'm the last person you want to hear this from, but I don't think that how a relationship works." She mumbled.

The moment those words left her mouth, she sucked in a tight gasp as she realised the sheer audacity of her words. Hell, her head was probably well on its way on a collision course with the glinting metal mace he kept strapped to his back. Her eyes shut quickly, bracing for impact. Oh god, _why_ were medics allowed maces when all she was allowed to bring to the battle field was a knobby long stick?

The next few seconds passed slowly. Nothing happened.

Morgan allowed herself to open one eye. There was no glinting mace, no arms raised in an attack. Not even a light bash on the head. She knew it was rude to go about telling people how to live their lives when she didn't have hers in check either. Morgan assumed he would know too.

So…why?

Why did he step back and let go of her? Why was his face… so startled? Sort of like…

"Hey! Morgan! Nikkos!" Erick called as he ran towards the pair, Pompela following closely behind. "You guys still want that tour of the town?"

Sort of like…

"I'm coming!" Nikkos called back. He spared one short glance at Morgan, then ran to Erick and Pompela.

It was sort of like he never fully accepted it himself. Was she the first to call him out on that?

He was kind of hurt, wasn't he?

She ran to join the others.

* * *

"…and that's the Berund Atelier!" Erick proudly announced, pointing to a nearby store with an iron forge and brick counter. Erick pulled the three others towards the counter, waving to a figure who was hammering away at the forge. "Hey, Wynne!"

Morgan trailed behind the others, not really listening to everyone talking. Hurting someone made her feel hurt too.

"Heya Erick!" Wynne turned around to wave back at him, still wearing her helmet. "Jus' waitta min, I'll get back t'ya after I-" She pounded the red hot metal again with her hammer. "-get this-" Pound. "-sword finished-" Pound.

"Very outgoing, isn't she?" Pompela nudged Morgan gently. She had decided to join Morgan in the back row, apparently. The two stood side by side, awkwardly watching the enthusiastic Erick and the even more enthusiastic Wynne greet each other while Nikkos tried his hardest to join in.

Morgan decided to break the thick silence that hung between them. "You… uh…. Joined our guild quite abruptly."

Pompela didn't answer that question. Instead, she was preoccupied by the pink flower peeking out from under the flagstones, prodding it with a careful finger. "This flower's pretty cool, right?"

Morgan had to admit, the flower was indeed very cool. On closer inspection, the flower was not fully pink, but instead had splashes of pink here and there. The petals were wide and generously hugged the sun with wide arms, allowing everyone to see the bright yellow centre.

"Hey wait!" Morgan exclaimed. "You didn't answer my question!" And she had been distracted by her antics! She flushed a bit, angry at herself for letting Pompela side-track her so easily.

"That wasn't even a question, it was a statement." Pompela rolled her eyes and continued to prod the flower. "You however, didn't answer my question."

Morgan groaned. "It was an opening statement! It was supposed to suggest to you that maybe you should explain why you joined us so… so out of the blue!" She then added slyly: "It's what adults do, so you probably wouldn't understand."

"You know, I'm starting to think making you my role model was a big mistake. And here I thought flirting all those men up made you a good person."

Well, no. Flirting with everyone single person in the bar didn't make affect her good moral in the slightest. Hell, it probably detracted from her overall moral. _Just another example of flawed reasoning from a teenager, what can you expect?_ Morgan stifled a laugh, despite being eighteen herself. Ironic really.

She also sensed anger in her. Good. It was embarrassing to be constantly reminded of what she did in the bar. Removing someone who constantly reminded her of her drunk escapades from her life was the first step to becoming a new person.

But…become a new person in what?

"…you think you're so tall and powerful, you ever heard of the term, "the bigger they are, the higher they fall"?" Pompela was right up in her face now, jabbing a finger into her face. "Are you even listening?"

"Sorry, I was just having a mid-life crisis. Nothing a _child_ would understand, since you have your whole life in front of you."

Pompela paused. Then she laughed. "You're right. Sucks to be you!" Then left.

 _Oh crap._

Morgan slapped herself mentally, for two reasons. One, because really, what kind of insult was that? She basically just—just said how much better it was to be young, when she really should have done the opposite. Whole life in front of you? What kind of insult was that even?

Two, because the regret of hurting a child was beginning to sink in. Why did she always never think about the consequences before the initial action? And now she was burdened with the regret of both her confrontations with Nikkos and Pompela….

She felt something press into her arm. A bit shocked, she jerked her head downwards, expecting a confrontation from Pompela's infamous shield bash. To her relief, she found herself staring at two very familiar brown boots. She looked back up, meeting her eyes with Erick's gentle ones.

"Here, I thought you might want something from the shop." He handed over a long object wrapped in brown paper and secured with a length of brown string. "It's my gift from me for joining our guild on such short notice." He ended his sentence with a goofy laugh.

Morgan gingerly took the wrapped staff. So he hadn't noticed what she'd done earlier to his guild. She didn't deserve this gift, but she accepted it anyway. It felt like it was the least she could do to somehow repent for her… hurtful comments earlier.

Erick didn't notice her cautiousness, instead giving her staff a pat and walking off. As he did, Morgan noticed the two other wrapped weapons strapped to his back, one in the shape of a short hammer and the other covering a large area, larger than him even.

She watched him hand them out to their respective explorer. He had spent money to support his guild. And what had she done?

Disapprove them of their dreams, that's what.

* * *

At last, the group of four finally reached the main square, rife with explorers and street merchants selling hot piping food served on paper plates. The sweet smell of sugar wafted through the air

"Ew!" Pompela screeched. "Wh-what is that?"

Morgan squinted a bit to look at where Pompela was looking. Sure enough, there was an intricately patterned large spider, spinning away at its web. It seemed to be a large focal point of Tharsis's town, since it was placed right in the middle of the dang square, where everyone could see it. And she also had to admit that it was pretty gross.

"That, my friends," Erick said as he posed dramatically, "is an Ariadne. The web it spins can be used as a means to portal back home. If an individual thread is tugged, it'll automatically teleport to reconnect itself with the mother web, dragging along anything that is touching the thread and any secondary holders."

"Secondary holders?" Nikkos asked in that high pitched voice of his. "What does that mean?"

Erick rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, guess I wasn't clear enough, huh?" He then grabbed hold of Nikkos' hand, much to the surprise of Nikkos. His face flushed a brilliant red, his tiny hand shaking in the firm, yet gentle grip of Erick's hands. He spluttered out mouthfuls of nonsense, clearly unable to form an adequate sentence.

Morgan snorted. He was a brilliant actor that was for sure. Then she mentally kicked herself again for addressing that subject again. Nikkos could do whatever he wanted. It wasn't up to her to judge him for it. She repeated this mantra over and over.

Erick was once again oblivious to Nikkos' reaction. "And let's say that I also grabbed Morgan here." He walked over to Morgan and grabbed her sleeve, resulting in a flabbergasted Nikkos. "All three of us would be able to teleport back if Nikkos was the only one holding the string!"

They all paused. All three?

Erick did a silent headcount.

One: Nikkos.

Two: himself.

Three: Morgan.

Four…?

"Her parents are going to be so pissed at us." Said Morgan.

Then she mentally kicked herself for the third time that day.


	5. We meet again

"Pompela!" Erick called, turning this way and that, trying his best to spot a certain bright blonde in the crowd.

"Pompela?" Nikkos joined in, in an attempt to show Erick his so-called "caring side" that didn't really exist. Occasionally he'd look warily towards Morgan, a gentle reminder of the words she had said earlier to him.

"Pompela." Morgan mumbled feebly. This was all her fault, wasn't it? Pompela had run away because of her words (again, with the reckless words). Damn, she felt so bad. _And she didn't show any signs of weakness during that entire exchange,_ Morgan thought. _What should I do…?_

Maybe she didn't want to find her. It would be so awkward if they again.

Erick smacked her on the back. "Come on, put a little back into it. We don't want her to miss out on lunch, right?"

It just sort of slipped out. She didn't mean to ask him for help. But to keep it bottled up…

"Ah, well," Morgan flustered a bit, weighing out the odds. Was it worth the awkwardness? Maybe she should back out with a statement on what sort of lunch they should have. To be quite honest, a sweet pie dusted lightly with sugar and cinnamon sounded quite appetizing right now—but to suggest that would be to ignore the situation at hand.

Luckily, Erick had patience. "What's up Morgan?" Ah, so kind. Had he selected Medic or Fortress as a profession, she might have fallen in love with him.

"I'm the one who got her upset in the first place. I think she ran awa—"

Erick stepped back, his face dark. Morgan blinked, surprised at the sudden change in atmosphere. "Erick?" she asked. Huh? Where was the kind, bubbly man she knew from before?

"Apologise." He said.

It was one word, so simple and clear-cut that even elementary schoolers would understand. You could look at the word from many different angles, mull over it for centuries even. And you'd still find that the meaning would retain itself.

Yet Morgan, dumb as she was, still let out a hollow "huh". Why couldn't she have something more intelligent to say?

"I said," Erick's voice began to rise, like he was a cool flame and someone—something—was blowing on it, tempting it to grow bigger, "Apologise. You think you can get away with upsetting one of my guildmates? Huh?"

Morgan was slammed to a nearby wall, the force so powerful it caused her to cough after the impact. All at once, she knew true anger. The little collar-grabs Nikkos had done, the snappy retorts of Pompela—they were nothing compared to this. This, this was…

"You've got no idea what it's having your role model throw insults into your face, do you?" He pushed her back again as she tried to stand herself back up. Slammed a hand again the cold brick wall behind her. Morgan didn't dare look up. "I suggest you take that silver spoon out of your mouth and go. Fucking. Apologise."

Those last three words dripped with so much venom Morgan felt the bite of the snake even after the poison set in. The pain was fear, and it had sunk in fast and hard. Her hands still shaking, she nodded. Oh man, how was she supposed to handle a labyrinth encounter if a total personality switch was all it took for her to lose her marbles?

But jeez—she never saw this coming. She never once before saw the fangs of the beast in Erick's eyes, never saw the way he stood. He was a threat—no, a gentle reminder for Morgan to think her decisions through before putting them to action.

Erick slowly let his arm drop to the side, his fist uncurling to a neutral position. His outburst had left him panting, she noticed. His hand raised a bit, as to try and hold her shoulder in a brotherly manner. But he quickly retreated back his hand with a heavy sigh.

She ran off, not even sparing a glance for Erick. It was too shameful to even attempt.

But had she looked, she would have seen a face of pain and regret.

* * *

Man, had she dug her grave any deeper, she'd be three-quarters of the way to Armoroad now.

Morgan grumbled to herself as she walked through the roads of Tharsis, plenty annoyed with herself. After all, it wasn't every day you managed to piss off three of your guild members in one day. _First meeting no less_ , she thought. And she had to stay in her guild until how long?

Or she could just leave Pompela hanging. Make up an excuse about chickening out. It was better to avoid confrontations than to confront them head-on. That was her philosophy, and strategy in this case.

But Erick would definitely chew her out for this. She shivered at the thought of having to confront him again. She rubbed at her face and forehead, ruffling her choppy fringe that she had once thought would be a good attractive feature. Her belongings were still being held safe in Saehrimnir Inn, and the Inn wasn't that far away… if she wanted to run away from the town, she'd have to do it now while no one was watching, which meant now. She probably wouldn't have a chance like this later— Erick would end up keeping a closer eye on all of them.

Morgan silently thanked Pompela for the escape window she had made, then walked faster to the Inn, her head held up high. Where would she go? Who cared—hey! Maybe she could be a street performer with her runic abilities. Travelling the world to stop at various towns to throw elements into the air… that was going to be the life for her.

"What's wrong, girly?" A cold growl cut through the air, like the snap of a dead branch. A horrible, terrifying voice—and it was behind her. Morgan whipped around, expecting someone to be behind her. Hell, expecting Erick to be behind her. Had he caught on to her scheme? Oh gods, please! Let her live tonight—

"I'm not going with you! Let go!"

That was Pompela's voice. It was coming from that dark alleyway. Morgan turned, and sure enough, she saw a fortress male leaning over the younger fortress and a sniper girl. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.

Morgan considered this. Actually hesitated. This was a choice she had to make. Save Pompela, or go live her street performer life. Save Pompela, impress Erick and possibly Nikkos… or go live a carefree life, free of guilt—

 _"You've got no idea what it's having your role model slam insults into your face, do you?"_

"Aww—"Morgan screamed at the realisation, "CRAP!"

There were people she'd hurt, people who she owed apologies to. If she left the guild—

If she left the guild, she take the guilt with her. All of it. Every little bit of guilt would stick to her like burrs, and they would not come off unless she took the first step in taking one off.

So despite herself, despite the decisions she had made on her life, despite everything, she ran into the dark alleyway and forced herself between Pompela and the tall fortress man.

"Hey, leave her alone!"

The tall man looked surprised. Now that Morgan was in front of Pompela, she could clearly see his facial features and previously hidden hair. Which was a plain brown.

But his features were so familiar. So familiar in fact, that she remembered them from last night at roughly ten o'clock, where she messed up her ice-breaker.

"A-a-app—"He stuttered. Stepped back. Tripped back a bit.

Ten o'clock, when she had slid herself over to this dashing fortress of about twenty years.

"A-apple juice…"

Morgan stopped and grinned, a sly and devilish idea taking form in her head. This was her past, and she had promised herself to forget about it. But at the same time, this was also her moment to shine. Her past had built her an opening—and she was going to take it!

"You haven't had your apple juice yet, you know? You just left me hanging."

The fortress flushed, not out of romantic intentions, but out of awkwardness. "A-ah, well, I, uh." He stuttered uncontrollably. He had, after all, left her hanging at the bar. Followed by the innocent blinks of the Sniper girl behind them, and the sly smirk from Pompela, he ran from the alleyway, his mind unable to handle so many disappointed glares.

"Woo hoo!" Pompela jumped into the air, her fist outstretched and a stupidly happy grin on her face. "You sure showed him who's boss!"

The euphoria simmered a bit. Right, she still had to apologise to Pompela.

"So, Pompela," Morgan said, turning around with her hands in her pockets, "I'm really sorry about today, and all those things I said about you."

Pompela stopped laughing, but still kept that stupid grin on her face. "Huh? What things?"

Morgan furrowed her eyebrows. "You know, all that stuff I said about… not being an adult?"

"That was an insult?"

Well, she had insulted herself in the process. But yeah, all those things she had said before dropping a bomb on herself were hurtful. But it also seemed like Pompela didn't know they were true insults. Would telling her dig Morgan into an even deeper grave?

Pompela didn't let her answer. "If they were, then I ain't insulted. I think it was fun, arguing with a real adult! I wanna do it again!"

Haha, real adult. Still, she hadn't insulted her in the first place then. So why did Pompela run off like she was hurt?

"Wait, if you weren't hurt, why'd you run off?"

Pompela patted the Sniper girl on the back. "Meet my new friend, Anna!"

Morgan groaned. "That didn't answer my question, but ok. Hello, Anna."

Anna subtlety nodded, her face aimed low. _So she's a shy one, huh._ Morgan thought.

Pompela continued. "I was picking my flowers when I saw Anna! She seemed to have this huuuge obsession with flowers. Absolutely obsessed. She would not stop talking about the pink ones, said her mother liked them the best. She wants to pick the best ones for her mother apparently."

Morgan looked to Anna's side and sure enough, saw a pouch over flowing with pink and blue. _Well, that explains why she's an explorer in Tharsis. To go into the labyrinth and collect the prettiest flowers._ Morgan exhaled through her nose while smiling. _Man, I wish I had that sort of carefree life._

"…and then, you wanna know what she said?" Pompela shoved a finger at Morgan, her hand on her hip. "She said that she wanted to join our guild, and I thought, "well why the heck not?!" So now, Anna's a proud member of guild Atrien!"

Woah, what the heck? "Pompela, you can't decide something so quickly like that!" Morgan protested, then realised Erick basically did the same thing with the entire guild. "Actually, I stand down."

Pompela smugly folded her arms. Still, she should get Erick's confirmation on this. "Come on, Erick wants to have lunch with the whole guild, and I really don't want to make him wait any sooner." Morgan's eyes darted to the side as she recalled the event earlier, letting out a gentle laugh. They slowly walked out of the alleyway, eagerly discussing what they wanted for lunch.

"Oh, by the way… you were really cool back there." Pompela grinned. "I dunno why he got upset, but I guess that's just the way adults communicate, huh?"

Morgan laughed awkwardly again. Yeah, adults.


End file.
